“When they discovered the zombies, why didn’t they just shoot them in the head?” Michelle asked.
“Since most ‘normal’ people don’t believe in zombies,” Dave said, emphasizing the word normal, “they probably were trying to get inside to help their fellow submariners. In fact, they probably acted like this one crazy 911 dispatch operator I know that wanted to run out and help Betty.”
“At the time it seemed like the right thing to do,” Michelle replied.
“I’m sure at that point it never crossed your mind that she was a zombie,” Dave added. “By the looks of all the blood and body parts around here, neither did the Navy until it was too late. How ever things went down, they obviously never made it into the sub to cut the power.”
“I think that kind of answers the question why we were able to get on the base so easily and why there wasn’t anyone manning the gates,” Bill said. “But how the hell did the zombies get on the sub in the first place?”
“The answer to that question is probably inside somewhere, but I’m not going in there to find it. Besides, knowing how they got on the sub won’t do us any good at this point. They’re here and we have to deal with it, period!”
“Do you have any idea how many men were on a sub like this?” Bill asked.
“I believe I read somewhere that there were about one hundred and forty men on a Boomer,” Dave replied.
“You say there are still zombies in the sub,” Michelle said. “If half of them were able to get out of the sub, even if the Navy wasn’t able to get inside the sub to shut it down, surely the Navy could handle seventy zombies. So where is everyone?”
“It’s not the zombies that are the problem, it’s the infection they carry that’s the problem,” Bill replied. “All it takes is one person to become infected to wipe out everyone. If the Navy was able to destroy all the zombies that came out of this sub, and by all the blood and body parts everywhere they might have done that, but in the process if one of their men became infected, it wouldn’t matter that they had killed all the zombies. Once the men carried the infection back to base, it would start all over again before long.
That’s probably why we haven’t seen anyone else on the base tonight.”
“I’m not sure that’s what happened here,” Dave said. “If they would have killed all the zombies that got out, why didn’t they send a unit into the sub and finish the job and shut down the sub instead of just letting it sit here running like this.”
“Like you said, they never thought that that they would be dealing with zombies,” Michelle said. “Maybe they had just sent a small unit out to get into the sub and they were overrun by the zombies.”
“Who knows,” Dave replied. “We could sit here and guess at all kind of possibilities until the sun comes up and it won’t do us a damn bit of good.
We need to get out of here and find out if there is anyone still on this base.”
“So where do we go?” Michelle asked. “It seems that there are zombies everywhere we go.”
“I suggest since we have come this far that we go over to the main part of the base and see if we can find anyone,” Dave replied. “Unless one of you have a better idea?”
“If the zombie apocalypse has started, it really doesn’t matter where we go,” Bill said. “They’ll find us no matter where we go.”
“Bill, did you go to a lot of zombie conventions when you were a kid?” Michelle asked with a sound of sarcasm in her voice.
“I believe they called them Comic Cons,” Dave growled. “He still goes to those things every time one comes around. I’ve been listening to him talking about zombies and the coming apocalypse for the last five years.”
“Then maybe we should all go to Bill’s house and hide in his doomsday survival shelter,” Michelle said with a hint of humor in her voice.
“He hasn’t finished his shelter yet,” Dave replied.
“I can’t believe Dave has you brainwashed against me on just your first night on the job,” Bill said. “It took him a week before he was able to convince the last girl that I was crazy.”
“Michelle is a lot smarter than the last girl,” Dave laughed.
“It sounds like you two have had this conversation before,” Michelle said.
Dave laughed, “How’d you guess that?”
“So how did you two survive the last zombie apocalypse?” Michelle asked.
“Smart ass,” Dave said. “We better get moving. Are you coming with me or not?”
“I’m coming,” Michelle said. “But until it gets light out, please keep the light on the ground in front of us so I don’t step on anymore dead bodies.”
Chapter 12
They had walked for almost ten minutes towards the main part of the base.
The sky was now bright, the sun would soon be rising.
Dave kept his flashlight on the ground in front of them, even though the sky was bright enough for them to navigate without it. He used the light because there were numerous bloody obstacles on the ground that they wished to avoid.
He could hear Michelle groaning every time she had to jump over something disgusting.
The buildings on the base were now visible along with the inlet and the boats tied up at the dock.
“It looks like a war had been fought here,” Michelle said.
“Yeah and our side lost,” Bill added. “Do you think anyone survived, it’s awful quiet around here?”
“Where, here or in Kingsland?” Dave asked.
“Both places, I guess,” Bill answered.
“We’re still alive,” Dave replied.
“Besides us!” Bill clarified.
“Even though all signs seem to indicate that no one else made it,” Dave replied again. “If we are still here, there has to be others that made it too, especially here on the base. We just have to find them.”
“Did your zombie conventions tell you what to do after a zombie attack?” Michelle asked.
“Michelle don’t get him started again,” Dave sighed.
“It couldn’t hurt,” Michelle replied. “We don’t seem to be doing all that well on our own at the moment. It might give us a few ideas.”
“The first thing they told us was to get up in the mountains or high country because zombies can’t climb hills very well,” Bill said. “They said the worst place to be when it starts is in the cities because there would be so many people that once the infection started to spread it would get out of control in a matter of hours.”
“We live on the Georgia and Florida border, probably one of the flattest and most heavily populated places in the country, so that bit of advice won’t help us much,” Dave replied. “How much did that pearl of wisdom cost you?”
“Dave, be nice,” Michelle said with a hint of humor in her voice.
“The second thing they told us was to avoid other people or at least approach them with caution,” Bill replied. “Because when everything starts to get scarce, the competition for things like food will make people as dangerous as zombies.”
“We’ve only discovered that there were zombies in Kingsland a few hours ago,” Dave said. “I don’t think we should be worrying that everyone we might run into is out to mug us. I realize we have a problem on our hands, but I’m not ready to run for the hills and start carrying signs saying that the end of the world is here. I think our biggest problem is not to let our imaginations get the better of us. If we just use our heads and keep it together, I’d be willing to bet this will all be over by the end of the day.”
“I sure hope so,” Michelle replied.
“And stop getting Bill all wound up,” Dave chuckled. “I know him a lot better than you, he’s a good medic but he will drive us both nuts with this zombie shit.”
“That’s it, talk about me like I’m not here,” Bill said.
“I honestly believe that you aren’t all here,” Dave laughed as he walked.
“Dave!” Michelle exclaimed.
Bill laughed, “Don�
��t get excited Michelle, Dave and I have this conversation every day, he doesn’t mean anything by it. Besides, I’m used to it since I have to deal with that jerk almost every day. I honestly don’t know what he is going to do now that he can’t tell me there is no such thing as zombies anymore.”
Michelle put her head down to hide her grin. She could just imagine the conversations they’ve had.
“Dave believes in UFOs,” Bill added a few minutes later. “Did he tell you that?”
“No, we haven’t had much time to talk about anything but zombies,” Michelle replied.
“He wanted to bet me one time that he would see a UFO before I saw a zombie,” Bill said. “Too bad I didn’t take him up on that bet.”
“Well, I bet you that if you don’t shut the hell up and keep your eyes open, you will get eaten by a zombie before I do,” Dave said.
“I’m glad you two are friends,” Michelle sighed.
“Could we just be quiet…….” Dave started to say, but he was interrupted as a loud crack sounded from somewhere up in front of them, then a thud sounded on the ground next to Michelle, kicking up the sand by her feet.
“Get down!” Dave yelled and hit the dirt.
Michelle dropped to the ground as another thud sounded, kicking up the sand in her face.
Michelle swore as she hit the ground and started gagging, “I’m going to be sick again!”
“What the hell was that?” Bill shouted.
“Someone is shooting at us,” Dave replied as another loud crack echoed off the buildings in the base. “I saw a flash coming from that second building from the right.”
“Who the hell are they?” Bill asked.
“If I had to guess, I would say it’s the Navy,” Dave replied. “It might be a security team patrolling the base to make sure that the zombies didn’t get back inside the interior fence.”
“They must think we’re zombies,” Bill said.
“Either that or they are freaked out by everything that’s happened tonight and are just shooting at anything that moves at this point.”
They could hear Michelle throwing up again.
“Michelle are you OK?” Dave shouted over his shoulder.
“No, I’m not alright!” Michelle forced out the words.
“Did you get hit?” Dave asked again.
“No, I’m lying on top of someone’s leg,” Michelle shrieked, “and I have shit all over me!”
“What are we going to do?” Bill asked.
“If whoever is shooting at us thinks we are zombies, we need to convince them that we aren’t zombies,” Dave replied.
“How do we do that?” Bill asked.
“You’re the zombie expert,” Dave replied. “How would you convince someone that you weren’t a zombie?”
“I would talk to them,” Bill said. “Since zombies can’t talk, they would know that I wasn’t a zombie.”
“Then how about going out and telling them that we aren’t zombies,” Dave replied sarcastically.
“I think they would shoot me before I could get close enough to say anything,” Bill said. “We could all start yelling, that might convince them that we aren’t zombies.”
Another bullet hit the sand in front of Dave as the sound of the shot echoed off the buildings.
A few seconds later, a faint but growing chorus of groans began to come from the other side of the base.
“Shit,” Dave said. “I think the sound of the gun shots are attracting the zombie’s attention to this part of the base. I guess we better convince someone fast that we aren’t zombies.”
“Yeah, or we will have to decide whether we want to be shot or eaten by a zombie,” Bill added.
Dave looked at his shirt, looked at Bill, then looked back at Michelle who had a look on her face somewhere between looking deathly ill and terrified.
“Michelle,” Dave shouted, “Toss me your jacket.”
“No!” Michelle shouted back.
“I need something to use like a flag to get the attention of whoever is shooting at us,” Dave shouted back, “and you’re the only one of us wearing a jacket, I’ll give it back in a few minutes.”
Michelle rolled over on her back and slipped her arms out of the blue jacket that was part of her new three-piece suit that she had hoped would help her make a good impression tonight.
This wasn’t what she had in mind.
She then rolled back on her stomach and said, “Here it comes,” then tossed the jacket up to Dave.
Michelle added. “Be careful, the left elbow was jammed into that leg I told you about and is covered with blood and other things that I tried not to look at.”
“Thanks,” Dave replied.
“Nice blouse,” Bill said, staring over at Michelle with a slight grin on his face.
“Very funny,” Michelle said as she turned her attention to see what Dave was going to do. It was all she could do to keep herself from freaking out. Zombies were one thing, lying on top of bloody pieces of zombies was entirely something else.
Dave laid on his side and raised his right arm, holding Michelle’s jacket in his hand, and began waving the jacket in the air.
After a minute without hearing anymore shots, he hesitantly moved up on his knees as he continued waving the jacket.
Finally, he slowly moved to a standing position.
“Stand up and get behind me,” Dave said as the groaning grew louder and closer, “and hold your hands in the air.”
“You don’t think they will shoot at us again?” Michelle asked.
“I hope not, but we have to take that chance,” Dave replied as the first of the zombies appeared between the buildings. “We have to get to that building before the zombies do or our long night is going to get a lot longer.”
“I suggest we run,” Bill said.
“I suggest you keep your hands in the air and stay behind me and don’t make any sudden moves,” Dave said as he started walking quickly towards the building where he had seen the flash from a gun barrel.
Dave continued waving Michelle’s jacket over his head.
When they were within a hundred feet of the building, a voice from one of the vents shouted, “Stay where you are!”
Dave could see the staggering bodies coming from around the other buildings.
The sounds of the moaning creatures were now beginning to get uncomfortably close.
“Who are you?” the voice asked, “and what the hell are you doing on the base?”
“I’m Dave Matthews. I’m in charge of the Kingsland Police Department and I have two friends with me from the Public Safety Building. We need your help,” Dave said.
“I’m afraid we can’t be of much help at the present,” the voice replied.
“If you could just give us some shelter from the zombies that are coming around the building behind you, we would really appreciate it,” Dave said.
“Please help us,” Michelle said as she stepped up next to Dave and waved her arms in the air.
“Have any of you been injured?” the voice asked.
“No we haven’t,” Dave replied.
“You look like you’re bleeding,” the voice said.
“It’s not our blood,” Dave replied. “We’ve been fighting for our lives tonight, and things have gotten a little bloody as I’m sure you have seen for yourself tonight.”
Michelle let out a shriek as three zombies came around the side of the building and staggered towards her, Dave and Bill.
A door swung open and three men ran out of the building.
One man waved for Dave and his group to run for the building as the other two men shot at the three grisly figures coming around the sides of the building, putting them down with clean headshots.
Dave, Bill and Michelle ran for the building as the men continued firing at the second wave of bodies that started swarming around the building.
Dave, Bill and Michelle were ushered into the building by the man that had waved for them run towards the building a
s the other two men backed in through the door.
Dave could see the bodies falling against the doorframe as the men continued to shoot their guns as they backed into the building.
The two men then rushed back outside the door and struggled to kick the fallen bodies out of the way so they could get the door closed.
When the door was firmly shut and locked, the man that had waved them towards the building turned and said, “That was close, what the hell were you doing out there?”
“Thanks,” Dave said. “We were just trying to find somewhere to go. We appreciate your help.”
“Hopefully I can say you are welcome,” the man replied, “but first, I want the three of you to line up against the wall behind you and get undressed.”
“What?” Michelle said looking wide eyed. “You want me to take off my clothes?”
“You are all covered in blood,” the man replied. “I need to make sure you haven’t been injured.”
“But I told you this blood is not ours,” Dave said.
“I want to believe you, but this entire damn mess we are in all started because someone took someone else’s word that they weren’t injured. I am not about to jeopardize my life and the lives of my men just to be polite. I can’t take that chance. If you don’t want to comply, then you will have to leave.”
Dave looked at Bill and Michelle.
“Do it,” Dave said as he began to unbutton his shirt.
In a few minutes, the three of them were standing against the wall in their underwear looking uncomfortable.
They were brought a bucket of water to wash off the blood that covered any part of their body.
The man that had given them their instructions, the man that seemed to be in charge, came over a looked each of them over carefully.
When the guy came over to Michelle, he dipped a rag into the bucket of water and rubbed it on her butt, Michelle blushed.
Apocalypse- the Plan Page 49